The Game
by Serena Scarlet
Summary: ONE-SHOT It's the classic "Bad Boy Syaoran" story...with a twist. Syaoran is determined to win his "game"...but will he in the end?  Rated PG-13 for slight mature content. From the author of "Where We Left Off".


**A/N: Decided to do another Sakura and Syaoran oneshot…with a twist! I'm so tired of reading, "Syaoran's a super bad playboy and so Sakura saves him!" blah blah blah (no offense to anyone who wrote those kinds of stories; Just a personal point of view). **

**This story's different, I swear, so please read until the end!**

_The Game_

Li Syaoran was known for sleeping with more girls in his bed then nights he spent alone—and he liked it like that. College could be a lonely world, but he decided that he'd never be by himself...perhaps the only time would be when he'd use the bathroom.

Girls swooned and guys marveled at his ability to trap others. In fact, his best friend Eriol asked him about it one night at a club.

"So how do you get so many chicks?"

"Well," Syaoran looked at the beer in his hand, "I guess I'm just lucky. But it's all a game…a challenge, really. I just win way too often."

At this, the two friends laughed harshly and slapped each other on the back.

Then, Syaoran spotted a girl out of the corner of his eyes.

She was sitting in a corner, staring blankly down at her empty glass full of ice cubes. She looked just like she was about to cry.

He got Eriol's attention and nodded his chin at the girl. Eriol's eyes widened.

"Dude, she's hot!"

"And she's mine, tonight."

"Okay, but after you're through with her, can I have the leftovers?"

"Whatever. Doesn't matter to me."

Eriol grinned and patted his friend on the back as he got up from his stool and walked over to her.

Syaoran got to her table and began to sit down.

"This seat taken?"

The girl was finally aware of his presence. She looked at him for a moment, almost like she was looking past him, then her gaze returned to her glass.

"No…I guess not…"

He smirked. "So what's a pretty girl like you so upset about, hmm?"

At this, she looked at him again. "I…I…"

"Yes?" he asked with impatience. God, this girl sure was taking long to just confess or whatever. After the talking, and the dancing, and maybe drinking, came the _real_ after party.

"My boyfriend…broke up with me…"

Syaoran resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course that was why she was here, by herself and drinking! An idiot could see that! But, he had to start on the flirting…

"Well, sorry to hear that. Can I maybe help you feel better?" He started playing with one piece of her wavy hair as he leaned into her more.

As expected, the girl blushed. "Uh…I guess…"  
With this, Syaoran kissed her, sealing the deal. The weak were always the easiest…

_Checkmate._

…

'_Almost every day's like this. It's starting to get boring…'_

Syaoran hurried to put his coat on before he left the sleeping girl. He hadn't even bothered to get her name, and by the time she'd wake he would be long gone.

She'd been good, he supposed. But not special…not a single one of the women he slept with were considered special to him.

He sighed. Getting bored would not be good for him at all…it could hurt his reputation at Tomeda University. Then, he got an idea.

He needed a challenge. A good one, one he'd have to fight for.

And win, of course. He'd always win.

…

The next week, he'd found it.

Sadly, he had to try sleeping with a few girls to realize that just because a girl wasn't pretty didn't mean that they didn't want him any less. He'd try even the most unlikely of girls who'd like him, but they barely gave him any resistance. He supposed that too many knew he was just plain good at what he liked to do.

He needed someone who'd never heard of him, and he'd play the most dangerous game of all.

Instead of just seducing a girl, his challenge would be making her fall in love with him, having sex with her, _then _leaving her like a sack of potatoes. It was simple, but the danger was that he didn't like clingy girls.

But it'd be _fun_.

He found his challenge when there was a new member in his school's Chinese Club.

Sakura Kinomoto. She was cute, but not particularly sexy or good looking. She had plain brown hair, cut just at her shoulder.

But she had nice eyes.

Syaoran decided that this girl would be his challenge when he heard she was new here, and judging by the squeals of some girls as they talked to the new girls, available.

He caught her eye, smiled, and watched as she turned her head quickly.

Let the game begin.

…

"So Syaoran-kun…why are you in Chinese Club?"

"My mom's actually Chinese…"

"H-hoe? That's really cool, Syaoran-kun!"

"Really?"

They were in a café, after Syaoran had offered to tutor Sakura a bit. It was all part of his plan, or course, but he was surprised how well it worked out. He even found that she actually was somewhat pleasant to talk to, which was different from the normal bimbos he'd be with.

He snapped out of his thoughts when Sakura asked him some questions about Chinese. After about thirty minutes, he laid down phase 2 of his plan.

"So Sakura-chan…do you have a boyfriend?"

At this, Sakura blushed and nearly choked on her coffee.

"H-hoe—Um, no. I've never even had one. Why do you ask?"

Syaoran smiled sexily and asked, "Well, there's this bonfire Friday in the middle of the student campus. Would you like to come with me?"

"Oh." She looked down at her hands, and nervously started playing with them. Syaoran grinned in his head, certain that she would…

"Let me think about it."

He blinked. Then he started again.

"Huh?"

"I need to think about whether I have homework for that day…but!" At this she grabbed a planner from her school bag. "It seems like I can! Sure, I'd love to go with you, Syaoran!"

He just stared at her for a moment, several thoughts colliding in his head. He thought he'd been rejected for the first time in his life, but then he wasn't, and then he noticed how he liked the way she said his name…

Then Syaoran snapped back to reality.

"Okay then…it's a date!"

At this, they both smiled at each other, simply enjoying the moment.

…

When they got there, there was obviously some alcohol involved already. As much as the random beers being passed around were tempting, Syaoran was determined not to take any this night…not yet. Part of his personal "goals" was that he wouldn't need any help from any type of "C2H5OH" to get Sakura in his bed. No, he was determined he could make pure feelings alone get her…then he'd get rid of—

"Syaoran? Do you want to dance?"

He looked at the bonfire and noticed the couples dancing. Then he heard the music slowly starting to seep into the atmosphere… he wasn't quite sure what it was, but he felt like he'd heard it somewhere.

He looked at Sakura, her eyes taking in the scene as well. She slowly turned to him, in a way that the firelight held its place for a moment in her eyes.

"Yes."

He didn't know he said it until he did. He didn't even smirk or smile or say it in a particularly suave way. And then he realized…

He really did want to dance with her.

As they both started swaying back to forth, he wondered when he started looking forward to being with her. He remembered that when he picked her up, he felt something—something he could really explain. But then he tried to shove that feeling back—the same feeling he was feeling now.

He pulled her closer, so that her head met his shoulder. Just for this moment, he'd take a break, and enjoy this feeling.

Then he'd let reality take over, and the challenge be resumed.

…

They had been going out for three weeks after the bonfire. Two weeks full of fun, as much as Syaoran sort of hated to admit. But it was alright—if he didn't enjoy himself a little, then it would be a horrible waste of his time. And that was the reason he looked forward to their dates—he told himself.

Smiling, he thought about that last Saturday when he and Sakura went to a carnival, and had gone on a giant roller coaster. He remembered how she clutched his arm like mad, and still was freaked out when the ride ended. Afterwards, they'd bought wispy cotton candy that melted on their tongues and—

_Jab._

"Ouch! What was that for?" He glared at his best friend who was sitting next to them as they listened to their English teacher lecture.

"Sorry!" said Eriol (in a way that implied he _wasn't sorry at all_). He grinned.

"Couldn't help it…you looked like a lovesick fool, sitting there all smiley and blushy!"

"I am not blushing!"

"Uh huh." At this, Eriol smirked, pulled out a mirror from his pocket (why it was there, no one knows), and then aimed it towards Syaoran.

He was blushing. Damn it.

"I think the new chick—Sakura was it? Has got you whipped, dude."

"She has not…"

"_Sure._"

"Fine. Prove it to me." Eriol smiled wickedly. "Kiss her tonight."

Syaoran blinked, then smirked in his regular fashion.

"Of course."

Satisfied, Eriol turned back to the teacher.

However, Syaoran couldn't stop the frown that made its way to his face.

…

"Hey, Syaoran…why are we at such a nice place for dinner tonight?"

"It's…a special day."

"Oh right! We've been dating for a month, right?"

"Yep!" He smiled a boyish smile, and Sakura gasped.

"Do that again."

"Do…what?"

"Smile like you did just now! It looks like Syaoran-kun's real smile!"

"Real smile?"

"Yep! It's not a sexy-ish smile…just so normal and carefree!"

"Oh, so you think my smile is sexy, huh?" He couldn't help but grin again.

"Well, I like this smile more…" she slowly raised her hand to touch the side of his mouth.

Time froze for a second, and their eyes were stuck as they looked at each other.

Then, she lightly leaned in and kissed him.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, something told him that he should be the one kissing her, but he forgot about it as the mere fact that _their lips were touching_ overrode his brain.

He felt that foreign feeling again, the one that made his stomach do flips and his heart go nearly mad with beating. He knew it…it was like Eriol said. He couldn't deny it any longer, he—

"I'm in love with you."  
He almost wanted to take it back, but the sight of Sakura's surprised and blushing face confirmed his feelings. He couldn't deny it anymore…

Yes, Syaoran had fallen for her.

He watched her squirm and then stand up. "Uh, I think I'll go to the restroom now."

Syaoran's heart fell. Did she not—

"But thank you…for what you said." She looked him straight in the eye.

"It really means a lot to me."

She then left the table.

Syaoran sat, half-slumped in his seat, and put a hand to his forehead.

Nope, no fever. But his face still felt hot.

But he felt like he was the luckiest guy in the world.

…

"Syaoran…thank you."

They were standing outside of her apartment doorway, still holding hands.

"I really wish this night would never end…" Sakura blushed.

"If you want, you can come in for a moment…Tomoyo's not home, so she won't mind."

Syaoran looked at her strangely. Did she just..?

"Perhaps…you can stay the night?" She smiled at him sweetly, but also in a way that was serious.

He could only gulp as he was led inside, to what he guessed to be her room…she turned on a light that only lit up the space a little bit, enough to see what was going on without completely awakening him.

But he felt awakened, as though something new inside of him was bubbling up. It wasn't lust…he knew what lust felt like. It was some sort of love, and only when he started slowly kissing Sakura and carefully laying her down on her bed that he understood what it was…

Passion.

It was a word he thought he knew, even thought he experienced…but he had never truly touched it. For this was passion: the slow kisses that slowly evolved to tiny nibbles, the warm hands that flew nearly everywhere and slowly, ever so slowly, unbuttoned his shirt.

His fingertips grazed the zipper of her dress when he remembered: he was supposed to be playing.

He froze, and stopped altogether. It took Sakura a little while to realize nothing was going on.

"Syaoran?"

There she went, saying his name again in a way only she could. He couldn't do this—he couldn't just go, make love with her, and then simply leave her behind. Somehow, between the simple outings and the dancing and the kisses, he'd lost his will to fight. He didn't want to fight, or pretend. He just wanted to love Sakura in a real way, not like how he felt as though he was lying to her.

Syaoran felt completely detested with himself. He really did fall in love with her, that's for sure. He sat on the bed edge, not exactly sure what to do.

Then he decided.

"Sakura…there's something you need to know."

She looked at him, gravely curious. She nodded, signaling for him to continue.

"I…I was…am a player. I was only interested with you at the start because I wanted a challenge, a new playtoy. But then," his eyes met her disbelieving ones, begging her to forgive him. "But then…I fell in love with you. This feeling is honest. You can hate me all you want, but please know that I love you. I don't want to take advantage of you…anymore."

Sakura was silent for a moment. Syaoran bowed his head, afraid to look at her face which would surely be filled with hate…or worse, tears.

"So…I suppose that you can't take advantage of me, but it was alright to take advantage of all those other girls?"

He looked up at her face, and instead of seeing silent tears, he watched as Sakura firstly smiled, then smirked.

"H-huh?"

She then whistled really loudly, and he barely had time to understand what it meant when suddenly, a hoard of girls came into the room.

Sakura slowly stood up as Syaoran looked at the girls with fear. Some of the faces he seemed to remember, some not. But all of them looked at him with absolute hate.

"So it was okay to sleep with all of these girls, to seduce them, then leave them as soon as you've gotten your fill?"

His mind felt frozen as he scanned the girls looking at him. In reality, they barely were processed in his mind as he saw Sakura, his innocent, pure Sakura, glare at him with menace in her eyes. Then, another girl caught his eye—one with wavy, lavender hair…

"Oh? I see you noticed Tomoyo. Amazing, really, seeing as how you left her after you _took her freaking virginity away from her_."

_No._ His mind screamed. No. This was not Sakura. This was not, could not, be her. Sakura didn't use the word 'freaking'. Sakura didn't smirk, or have a single evil thought in her head…

"So Tomoyo of course told me about it. And I asked around and learned that this was a common experience. That Li Syaoran _preys_ on the weak, takes what he wants, and simply abandons them."

He never thought that his mind could be so confused, his heart so heavy. He felt such melancholy that it became hard to breathe.

"So we all got together and decided on some good old revenge, to make you _pay_ for your sins. I would make you fall for me, and then expose you for what you are…"

He thought it couldn't get any worse, but then…

"I loathe you—no, hate you Syaoran."

His heart broke. He could feel it shred into a million shards, each stabbing at his chest.

The next few seconds were a blur. The girls all laughed at his misfortune, at his final justice was paid to him. He felt himself being grabbed by someone's hands and being pushed towards the hallway, and then the door. But it didn't matter. He couldn't think anything at the moment.

"Syaoran?"

Again, that now sickly sweet voice knocked him out of himself. Sakura was standing there, and they were alone and outside.

She looked so much like the Sakura he thought he knew, blushing and smiling. Then her face transformed again.

"One more thing," she roughly grabbed his hair and brought his ear down to her.

"_I win._"

…

**A/N: Oh god, how did I get so angsty with this one **** I am going to get so many hate comments, I can see it now…but you have to admit you weren't expecting that. I like the ending as it is, but I'm willing to write a happier alterna-ending/sequel if you guys felt this made an impact with you.**

**Thanks for reading!**


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